Essendon Bushwalking Club

Recent rains promise a bountiful spring in the Fryer's Ridge Conservation Park.  The walk will commence near the intersecton of Hunters Lane and Fryers Ridge Road (also known as Spencers Road)  in Drummond North.  We will explore the southern section of the park walking on 2WD and 4WD roads and some moutain bike trails.  There are no signficant hills on this walk

This will be a very Bob friendly walk.

We will meet at Pipemakers Park and walk along the Maribyrnong past Edgewater, Footscray Park and along to Newells Paddock where we will cross over the river into the Kensington Banks estate..There are many relics of the days when the saleyards there were Australia's main livestock trading market opening in 1861..There are many interesting things to see as we walk along the old stock route such as the Women's Peace Garden, the murals on the back gate and the old pens..Also the area is lovely with parks and cobbled streets.  There is also a plant nursery.. We will walk back to Edgewater for coffee at one of the cafes there.

Nice easy 10k approx urban walk discovering the historical sites of Bacchus Marsh including a scenic walk along the Werribee River where we will stop for lunch.

Meet at Flinders St. Station Coffee Shops by 8.50 am. for the 9.00 am. train to Mordialloc.

The walk starts at Mordialloc Station and skirts around the Wetlands area at Aspendale,Edithvale and Chelsea Heights before stopping for lunch at Chelsea Bicentennial Park (toilets).

After lunch, the walk continues on to th Patterson River where we make a fight turn to walk along the embankment towards Carrum, crossing the Patterson River to finish the walk at Carrum Station.

The walk is flat (sea level) and mostly in the open. Boots are recommended.

Covid restrictions are to be adhered to where applicable, and walkers must be fully vaccinated.

If you can remember where you stored your Myki card from pre lockdown, we,ll be using it for the train and the tram for this gentle outing to get the leg muscles back into condition. Blackburn Lake is a surprisingly pleasant little area of bushland and there are several trails around the lake . We,ll do a circuit and then have morning tea in the park. After leaving the park, we go along a Nat Trust heritage street before accessing the Gardiners Ck trail.The lunch break will be on the trail and then we will leave the trail and head off for the last section of the walk to do a circuit round Wattle Park with its chalet, picnic grounds,old trams , info boards and Lone Pine tree connections. At the NE of the park, there is a nice little coffee shop which is conveniently opposite the tram line to take us back into the city. Blackburn lake is a nice bushland park, Wattle Park has an area of bush and tall trees and Gardiners Ck is a well vegetated area and even if this is an urban walk , the majority of the walk has a decidedly rural feel to it . All being well with the post lockdown conditions , its the Flinders St concourse coffee shop area at 8.55am for the 9.06 to Blackburn. Sturdy sneakers, unless its damp underfoot, will be fine and if the weather obliges it should be a pleasant day out to ease us back into our proper bushwalking fitness !

We will meet in the car park at Beasley's Tea House at 09.30am. We will then walk  along the Mullum Creek track to the Templestowe Hill climb and then walk to Target  Road and follow the Yarra River , we will see an old Homestead Pontiville In the Early 1840s Major Charles Newman had been offered a land grant for his services to the Crown , it was the first permanent house to be built in the Doncaster- Templestowe area. Ten years later he built Monkton on a hill across the river it was demolished in June 1968 to the confluence of theMullum Mullum Creek and then walk past Pettys Orchard  one of the oldest commercial orchards in Melbourne.The Petty family manged the orchard  until Parks Victoria purchased the property in 1981  to Leinster Farm Wetlands at the Confluence of Diamond Creek and The Yarra, contains a birdhide, viewing platform on thethe river we then return back along the Yarra Trail to the Mullum Mullum Creek  Trail to the cars Afternoon tea at Beasleys. 

Please, after completing nominateion for walk here, also advise Ron via telephone (0429 384 057).

Meet at 9:30 at the cafe.  Will walk through the wetlands, and will go upstream past the amazing rock formations, and then over the hill toward Ted Whitten Bridge.  Then will return to the cafe for afternoon tea.  

The Club is arranging the delivery of Level 2 First Aid training by First Aid Management and Training Centre.  The providers delivered training for us about twelve years ago.

The training will be held from 9.00am to 5.00pm on Saturday 11 December 2021 at St John's Uniting Church Hall (our meeting venue).  The cost is $50 per person.

Participants are required to:

1) Bring all food for the day (lunch and snacks). Tea and coffee provided.

2) A workbook for the course should be collected at the May club meeting.  If you are unable to attend, please contact Kevin (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to arrange collection.

3) Complete workbook exercises before the day (this will take about two hours).

4) Obtain a Unique Student Identifier (USI) so your completion of the course can be formally recognised. To do this, visit www.usi.gov.au.  Darren McClelland can email you an information sheet if you need assistance.

5) Email your USI and name as you would like it to appear on the certificate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

6) Register by 6.00pm on 28 November 2021.  

Please note that once you have registered, you are required to pay the $50 course fee by 28/11, preferably via electronic transfer, to: Essendon Bushwalking Club Inc., BSB: 083 437, Account No: 177923003 (quote your NAME and the words “1st Aid" as reference).  Once you have committed to the course, you may be required to pay even if you can’t attend.  If the event is cancelled due to COVID restrictions, there will be no charge and the event may be rescheduled.

From Murrindindi Scenic Reserve we'll follow the Murrindindi River for a short distance before branching off for our climb through attractive forest up to the falls.From here we'll follow the Boroondara Track and link up with an old tramway as we follow the river back to the start. This is a very scenic walk and not to be missed.Walk should take around 4.5 hours and afternoon coffee will be at Dixon's Creek Cafe. Boots/poles recommended.

Additional note... for most of the walk we'll have plenty of shade.